Punks jump up to get beat down! -Brand Nubian
Public Service Announcement: Ok, here we go! Defense! Defense! Take it away. Take that ball away. You know what they say. They say offense wins games but defense, defense wins championships.
The Celtics play defense. Rough defense. Tough defense. Enough defense. The Celtics played enough defense last night. Played enough defense for Kobe Bryant. Played enough defense for the league’s most prolific scorer. The Celtics threw a little Ray Allen at Kobe. The Celtics threw a little Paul Pierce at Kobe. The Celtics threw a little James Posey at Kobe. A little bit of Jessica, here I am. A little bit of you makes me your man. Tom Thibodeau is my man.
Everybody had a hunch the New Big Three would score. Had hunches they’d score in bunches. Had hunches they’d score in knockout punches. Had hunches they’d score in the crunches. But defense? This is a team that last year went stretches playing worse defense than Michael Redd. Worse defense than Antawn Jamison. Worse defense than Troy Hudson. How did this team shut down King James? How did this team shut down Deetroit Basketball? How did this team shut down Kobe last night? Tom Thibodeau. That’s how. Tom Thibedeau, Celtics assistant coach. Tom Thibedeau, defensive guru. Defensive maharishi. Defensive swami.
In his seventeen seasons as an assistant, Thibodeau has helped his teams finish in the NBA’s top ten in team defense fourteen times. Yowza! He helped the Rockets rank in the top five in the NBA in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense in all four years he was with the team. Holy cow! In his first year with Houston, Thibodeau helped the Rockets set franchise records in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense. Whoa Nelly! During his tenure with the Knicks, New York set a then-NBA record by holding thirty-three consecutive opponents under 100 points in the 2000-01 season. How about that! So now, not surprisingly enough, the Celtics under Thibodeau, are playing defense. Like that boy from INXS, they are playing suffocating defense. Smothering defense. Asphyxiating defense.
They are cutting off the penetration. They are contesting every shot. They are trapping in the corners. They are crashing the boards. Rebounding, helping, switching, basically everything that you expect your team to do on defense. The Mamba may say he missed some really good looks. The Mamba may say he missed some bunnies. But know this, the Mamba had a hand in his face all night. Prove it all night, prove it all night. And girl I’ll prove it all night for you. The Celtics proved it all night. They proved defense really does wins championships.
Public Spectacle:
Peace out homies. Six two and even!
Need More? Boston Celtics,Los Angeles Lakers,NBA,Tom Thibodeau
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[...] Offense wins games, defense wins championship. Solid point I suppose. [...]
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